They suggest that what we think of as free will is largely an illusion: much of the time, we are simply operating on automatic pilot, and the way we … - Malcolm Gladwell

Why is the fact that each of us comes from a culture with its own distinctive mix of strengths and weaknesses, tendencies and predispositions, so difficult to acknowledge? Who we are cannot be separated from where we’re from — and when we ignore that fact, planes crash.

"My father will sit down and give you theories to explain why he does this or that," the son of the billionaire investor George Soros has said. "But I remember seeing it as a kid, and thinking, At least half of this is bull. I mean, you know the reason he changes his position on the market or whatever is because his back starts killing him. He literally goes into a spasm, and it's this early warning sign."

We are trained to think that what goes into any transaction or relationship or system must be directly related, in intensity and dimension, to what comes out.